


Be Less Chill

by arialsal



Category: Monster Prom (Visual Novel)
Genre: Denial of Feelings, First Kiss, Kissing, M/M, Pining, Rough Kissing, Secret Crush, basically damien thinks he hates brian when really he's got a big fat crush, boy does he get MAD lmao, brian is chill tho, yes the title is a reference to bmc.. i couldnt think of a better name ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 01:06:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14989415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arialsal/pseuds/arialsal
Summary: Brian was a giant dick weasel of rotting flesh, Damien had concluded.





	Be Less Chill

           Brian was a giant dick weasel of rotting flesh, Damien had concluded.

           There were only a few select qualities the demon looked for in potential friends, and those qualities were, one: not being a little bitch, two: being open to the consideration/execution of murder and/or violence, and three: to not ever be a little bitch.

           Yes, he realizes that two of those conditions are strikingly similar, but in an overworld full of spineless shitheads, Damien needs to ensure he weeds out all unqualified candidates for people he actually finds worth his time.

           That was the one significant thing about Brian; he appeared to meet all the above criteria, however, he had little to no outward interest in Damien.

           Not to put out the wrong idea – Damien couldn’t give less of a fuck if the green turd even wanted to hang out with him. It was just very rare that any individual at _Spooky High: School of Dickheads_ (unfortunately not the patented name) didn’t want to ensure a smooth ride through high school by securing a friendship with a student of high status, such as the literal Prince of the fucking Underworld.

           Damien first noticed Greeny the Weeny at the beginning of senior year. He had just finished setting off a beautifully executed fire in the library stairwell and was making a run for it when he almost ran into Principal Giant Spider. He would have been fucked for sure, if Brian hadn’t seen everything from the library and quickly detoured PGS out of the stairwell by pushing an entire cart of books down the stairs. PGS jumped out the nearest window before the flaming cart could crush him, allowing Damien to take the opposite exit.

           Later, Damien gave the zombie a hearty punch on the shoulder and asked if he wanted to join him on his next arson-based adventure (which, really, was only an offer Damien made because Brian happened to catch him in a good mood, and he thought he’d give the loser a rare opportunity to hang out with the one and only Damien Lavey). But all he responded with was, “I’m on my way to meet some friends,” before giving Damien a polite smile and walking away.

           That stuck-up asshole!

           And this was Damien’s entire year; Brian – appearing to be cool, laid back and down for some tasteful and/or senseless violence – and Damien – making more than one direct effort (two! Two efforts!) to actually hang out with the dude, only to be rejected.

           So, what exactly was Brian’s deal? Did he think he was too good to be friends with Damien? What makes him so special that he believes he can just glide through the halls, all tall and lean and laid back? Who gave him the right to occasionally make clever jokes in class, drawing laughter from everyone around him? And _how_ does he believe its okay to lean back in his chair afterward, throwing on one of those charming-ass crooked fucking grins?

           It pissed Damien right the fuck off.

           And now, Brian had crossed the line.

           There they were, in Advanced Scares 4U, when Brian actually had the nerve to approach Damien at the end of class and ask if he wanted to be partners for the project they were just assigned.

           All the demon could do was look at him, incredulous and enraged all at once, the tips of his fingers already forming scorch marks on his desk. Did this holier-than-thou fuckbench _really_ think he could just stand in front of him, hands in those stupid jacket pockets, eyes half-lidded, with his mouth upturned into a lazy smile, and actually ask that?!

           There were so many things Damien wanted to say in that moment. No, no. There were so many  _knives_ he wanted to  _throw_  in that moment.

           But, no. Damien realized he couldn’t give him the satisfaction of actually getting pissed over something Brian did, when Brian clearly didn’t give a fuck about anything that Damien did.

           Damien considered changing one of the things he looks for in a friend from “not ever being a little bitch” to “not ever being way too chill all the fucking time.”

           “Sure,” he finally grit out, trying to train his grin into only half-sinister. He stood from his desk, leaning in closer to the taller male, who didn’t even flinch.  _Damn it._ “Meet me after school next to the bathrooms. If you’re not there, I’ll rip your ass from it’s stitches and serve it to you on a fucking platter.” And with that, he stormed out of class.

* * *

           The next few classes came and went, and before Damien knew it he was sitting down for lunch with Vera, Scott and Polly.

           “I, the chairman and sole founder of the _PRANK MASTERZ_ , would like to welcome our honorary members,” Polly said giddily from her seat next to Scott, who’s tail was wagging in anticipation. “Thank you, Vera and Damien, for volunteering to join us while we’re short-handed for our next totally wicked prank!”

           “We volunteered for nothing, you two just came over here and sat down without saying anything,” Vera reminded coldly. It did nothing to deter Polly’s attitude.

           “You might be wondering, what prank could be so wild that not even Polly the Party and Sexy Scott could handle it on their own?!” Damien was almost sure Scott did not condone that nickname. “Well, stop your wondering!”

           “No one is wondering,” Vera interjected again.

           As Polly went on to explain whatever dumb prank she and Scott had planned, Damien was spaced out, his eyes scanning the cafeteria. Eventually, they landed on Brian, who sat hunched over at his table, carrying conversation with Amira. She was waving her hands and smiling wide, talking about whatever with passion and excitement. Douche-of-the-Year, however, was only smiling lazily, responding quietly in her brief intermissions of speech.

           Damien grimaced. How did this dude not piss more people off?

           Next, he said something that was inaudible to Damien from where he was sitting, but the three monsters around him all broke into laughter. Damien’s fists clenched, watching Brian’s body slowly shake with laughter. He didn’t need to hear it to know what that annoying-ass laugh sounded like. All raspy and gentle, but somehow still uninhibited. And it made his eyes crinkle at the corners and the gap in his jaw stretch. And it was kind of sweet, and easy to listen to…

           He means! No! Not sweet! Annoying. Annoying, and gruff, but like the gross smokers-cough kind of gruff not the sexy gruff. It was never the sexy gruff with Brian!

           Just then, Brian slipped off his winter jacket and rested those lean arms on the table. Damien’s jaw tightened from infuriation.

           Brian definitely thought he looked so fucking good even though he was just wearing jeans and a black T-shirt, like he doesn’t even have to try! As if he would look good with a torso so long that his midriff peaks from the bottom of his stupid shirt when he stretches his arms above his head like that…

           “Damien, you okay bro?” Scott said from across the table, startling him to jump. _Jump?_ Since when does Damien Lavey fucking jump? “You seem kinda’ distracted. And mad. So basically you’re not just 100% mad, which is weird for you!”

           “Actually, Scott’s right,” the gorgon adjacent to him concurred, entirely suspicious. “You haven’t yelled a swear word or started a single fist fight since we sat down.”

           “Let’s not get off topic, guys, the prank-” Polly started, pulling an unlit Molotov from seemingly no where.

           “And you’ve been squirming,” Vera cut her off again, a slender finger trailing the rim of her wine glass, “almost like you’re waiting for something.”

           “I don’t know what you’re getting at, snake-for-brains, but I’d drop it if you knew what was good for you,” Damien finally spoke, voice low. Her grin only widened at that.

           Vera was a dear friend to Damien. They spent a lot of time together devising elaborate crimes and building blackmail against wimps. But no matter who you are to Vera, a conversation with her could turn into a scathing interrogation at any moment (given that she’s bored enough to want to verbally torture one of her closest friends).

           “Awfully defensive. Usually when I piss you off you immediately flip the table and start a fire,” Vera leaned forward, and Scott and Polly exchanged uneasy glances. “This wouldn’t have to do with the zombie you keep side-eyeing across the cafeteria, would it?” she said silkily, her perfectly manicured nail pointing at Brian, who continued to enjoy his lunch.

           Damien’s eyes blew wide, fingers digging into the edge of the table, the cuffs of his jacket smoking from the embers beginning to form off his skin. “I’ll tie those snakes around your fucking neck!”

           Polly’s eyes followed Vera’s finger, and she ‘ooh’d audibly.

           “That’s the dude you keep talking about, right?!” Polly laughed and began her best Damien impression: “‘I hate that fuckhole!’ ‘Think’s he’s too good for everyone!’ ‘His voice is too deep!’ ‘He thinks his eyes are all pretty and mysterious, but they’re not!’” the ghost was cackling now, and Scott tried to shush her, giving the seething demon a sympathetic look.

           “GAAAH!” Damien screamed, shooting up and blowing his chair twenty feet away in a wave of flames. “SHUT THE FUCK UP! It’s prank time, BITCHES!”

           Still baring his jagged teeth, Damien swiped the Molotov, ignited it with a snap of his fingers, and hurled it into the middle of the cafeteria.

           “I mean, that’s not what the prank was supposed to be, but sure!” Polly yelled over the startled cries of students. The three of them fled the table to leave Damien to his rampage, but he didn’t notice, too busy being in a rampage and all.

           Lunch ended, once again, with tremendous fire damage to a small portion of the school and Damien being forcefully escorted from the building in handcuffs.

* * *

           Later in the library, Damien was trying to finish his essay on _Why Fire Should Legally be Allowed to Parent a Child_ , but he could hardly focus, still livid from what transpired in the cafeteria.

           Sure, he got off scot-free from the arson and several injuries he inflicted on fellow students thanks to his royal status, but he hardly cared about that. All he could think about was Brian.

           Not even Vera with her ridiculous accusations or Polly and her huge mouth kept Damien’s attention after lunch ended. Nope, just regular old, stupid ass, dumb ass, bitch ass Brian. Ass.

           It wasn’t normal for Damien to focus all of his anger on one entity for so long. Usually he was so emotionally imbalanced that a new thing set him off every minute, which was easy and familiar! But there was something about the zombie that just stuck with him, and the dude didn’t even have to go out of his way to do it! He didn’t have to try to hold Damien’s attention without even talking to him, he didn’t make a conscience effort to get under his skin with the most subtle gestures, he didn’t even give a shit about trying to look good… but somehow, there he was, looking good as shit!

           Fine, Damien was able to come to terms with it. There was a miniscule chance that he found Brian somewhat attractive. That didn’t change how much Damien wanted to skin him alive, or rip off his stitched limbs, or wipe that smirk off his face, or run his fingers through his hair, or-

           “Dude,” Vicky’s voice cut through his train of thought like a knife. Damien jumped for the second time that day (and in his life) and whipped around in his chair to growl at her. “Down, boy. What the heck are you thinking so hard about? I can practically see steam blowing out your ears,” she giggled.

           Damien’s eyes widened at that, and he had to physically restrain himself from punching the small stein in the face. He may be free from legal repercussions, but if he got arrested twice in the same day, he probably wouldn’t survive the wrath of his dads.

           “None of your fucking business,” he opted for instead. He turned back to the blank document on his computer and was dismayed when Vicky took a seat next to him rather than taking his not-so-subtle ‘fuck off’ hint. She swung her legs and looked at him expectantly.

           “What,” he spat flatly.

           “You and I haven’t hung out enough this year, y’know that?” she hummed.

           “Who are you again?”

           Vicky laughed at that, pure and light-hearted. “Oh, shut it Fireboy, you know my name. Scott and I are buds!” Damien still didn’t spare her a glance, wracking his brain for a way to end the conversation. He could hardly stand Brian, he didn’t need to be spending time with the dickhead’s friends.

           “So, you and Brian, huh?”

           Vicky jumped at the trail of fire that shot across the library desk, extinguishing shortly after Damien slammed his fist into the middle of it.

           “I don’t know who the hell you think you are, Stitches, but Scott’s friend or not, I’ll roast you where you stand if you so much as  _imply_ that I have any sort of relationship, even platonic, with that overbearing self-absorbed dickweed!” Damien hissed, hardly an inch from her face.

           Vicky’s expression relaxed and she actually had the nerve to roll her eyes before pushing Damien away with the tip of her finger. “I meant you guys are partners for that assignment.”

           The flame in the demon’s eyes immediately died, and he slumped back in his chair, actually a little embarrassed. “Oh, yeah,” he mumbled. “How’d you know about that?”

           “Hold up,” she ignored his question and held up a finger, “did you just call Brian self-absorbed?”

           “Yeah, ‘cuz he is,” Damien put it simply, and Vicky’s jaw hit the floor. Literally. The impact of her shock loosened the stitching and her severed jaw is now sitting on the carpet. She scrambled to pick up the jaw and snap it back into place, her wide eyes never leaving Damien’s.

           “Brian’s, like, the least self-absorbed person I know!” she practically yelled, to which Damien took turn to roll his eyes. She huffed. “He’s always helping you and your friends with your stupid problems for no reason, making your decisions and stuff! And he’s so chill-”

           “He’s too chill!” Damien snapped. “The guy acts like he doesn’t give a fuck about anything! Like he’ll just swoop in to look all cool and helpful and suave, and then not give me- I mean- anyone the time of day!”

           Vicky considered him skeptically, and Damien shrank in his seat. For such a small person, she had a fairly intimidating glare.  

           “So, is this how you always act when you meet someone ‘stuck up’? Insanely angry, focusing all of your energy on them? That’s your go-to reaction for every ‘snobby’ person you’ve ever encountered, right?” she asked, air-quotes and all.

           “What?! No- I mean, I don’t… I haven’t-” Damien sputtered.

           “You haven’t, what? You haven’t  _ever_ met someone stuck up before Brian?” she quipped. “This is the first monster you’ve ever seen to act as though they’re too good to hang out with you? Including Vera, Miranda and Liam?!”

           With each passing second that Damien couldn’t find words to speak, he grew more frustrated. His flesh started to burn. Vicky’s hardened composure slowly faltered, and she put up both her hands, as if in surrender. “Look, I’m not here to interrogate you.”

           “Oh yeah? Great, ‘cuz this feels like a fucking tea party!” he growled.

           She gently shook her head. Seeing Vicky so solemn was a rare break from her constantly bubbly personality, and it was almost disturbing to witness. “Bottom line, Damien, you should give Brian a chance. He’s a great guy,” she stood up. “And, I mean, you gotta’ acknowledge your feelings for him at some point.”

           And with that final, wildly bold statement, she started to leave. Damien, for once in the entirety of his existence, was too shocked to even respond.

           Just before she could turn the corner, she looked back at him with a much more familiar, perky grin. “Oh, and I knew about the partner thing because he told me. He does talk about you, y’know. Later!” And with a small wave she was gone.

           There were too many potential reactions for Damien to process from that conversation all at once, that all he could do was slump in his chair and stare at the corner Vicky had turned.

           And despite the loud undertones of seething rage he felt that some tiny stein girl would dare talk to him about his ‘feelings’ for Brian of all people, the demon couldn’t help the small grin that tugged at his lips.

           Brian talks about him?

* * *

           After what felt like the longest school day in the history of time, Damien finally made his way to the bathrooms to meet Brian.

           As he approached the meeting place, he began to realize he didn’t actually have an idea of what they were meeting up for. Sure, for their ‘assignment’, but the chances of Damien actually doing school work _outside_ of school were slim to never-gonna-happen.

           He’d been so busy starting fires and quietly hating Brian all day that he had no plan of action. What was this meet up for? To burn down the bathrooms? To challenge Brian to a fight and settle his hatred for him once and for all? To challenge Brian to a fight and _then_ burn down the bathrooms?

           While he leaned against the shack wall, absentmindedly fidgeting with the cuff of his jacket, Damien thought back to what Vicky said to him in the library. ‘Give him a chance’. What did that even mean? A chance to, what, piss Damien off again? The zombie was already succeeding in that by making him wait. It had been almost a full minute – so an eternity to Damien – since he stood, waiting for this dumbass to show up.

           Then, something weird happened. Damien imagined seeing Brian walk up to him across the field, hands in those dumb pockets, gaze half-lidded as usual. Stupid sexy Brian.

           The demons stomach clenched. He could feel the fire in his abdomen pressing closer to it’s walls and he clenched his jaw. What the fuck was this? His heart beat quickened, and Damien growled to himself. He hated this feeling of nervousness, it was foreign to him.

           “Fuck,” he hissed, pressing his claws down into his stomach so as to murder the tight feeling. “Cut it out!” he yelled, punching himself in the stomach with all his might. Immediately he doubled over, wheezing.

           “Guess I get to keep my ass, huh?” a calm voice came.

           Damien straightened to look at Brian, in all his laid back, annoying glory. Predictably, his hands were in his pockets, and his posture was slanted.

           “I like to punch myself,” Damien blurted, and literally made a disgusted face at his own words. “Nothing keeps you tougher than… self-inflicted pain.”

           “Hey, man, no judgment here,” Brian said with a ~~cute~~ _ugly_ laugh.

           There was a short while of silence, and Damien took that moment to indulge in the surreal feeling of Brian actually being in front of him. Having spent the better part of a semester hating him from a distance, having the other male in front of and talking to him was almost impossible to grasp. Damien had gotten so used to his idea of Brian the Asshole that he’d distanced himself from the real Brian. Not to say that the real Brian wasn’t an asshole.

           Damien still hated this. All of this uneasiness wasn’t familiar. He needed something more aggressive, more heated, more _Damien._

           “So, quite the show you put on at lunch today,” Brian commented, lazily kicking at some dirt. “Something piss you off?”

           “Someone.”

           “Yeah?”

           “You.”

           Damn it, Damien really expected him to say ‘who?’, to which he was going to say ‘you’, so Brian would be the uneasy one. But he didn’t, so now it just looked like he _wanted_ to say ‘you’, like it mattered to him. Damn it, fuck, shit, damn!

           “Ah,” is all Brian returned, walking over to join him against the bathroom wall.

           “‘Ah’?!” Damien echoed dumbly. He pushed away from the wall and stared at Brian. “That’s _it?_ You’re not even gonna’ ask me why?!”

           “Okay,” he said. “Why?”

           “Because of this!” Damien screamed, sending the side of his fist into the metal shack wall, leaving a prominent dent. “You don’t give a fuck about anything! You’re always hanging around, acting like nothing in the world affects you, like what anyone else thinks doesn’t do fuck all to you!”

           “Should it?”

           “YES!”

           “Why?”

           And for the millionth time that day, Damien was at a loss for words. Why the fuck wasn’t he just falling into his old habits of throwing the first punch and dumping gasoline on Brian’s unconscious body? What was with him today?! For the first time ever, Damien felt so unsure of everything. Even ‘why’.

           “Do you?” Brian tried instead.

           “What?”

           “Do you care what other people think?”

           “Fuck no!” Damien spat.

           “So why should I?”

           Another silence.

           “Fucking-” the demon had his hands in his hair. What the hell was this guy doing to him? He was at a loss, realizing that he didn’t really know _why_ he hated Brian so much. He always shit on him for not giving a fuck, but really, Damien hardly gave a fuck most of the time too.

           Maybe this wasn’t entirely hatred. Maybe… Damien just noticed this dumb, fun, kind-of-perhaps good looking guy, and he couldn’t figure out how to actually talk to him. Maybe this was what Vicky meant. ‘Acknowledge your feelings for him’. Damien supposed it wasn’t totally impossible that those feelings were… not real hate-y feelings. Maybe even something entirely fucking stupid, like crush-y feelings.  

           Defeated, he looked up, and Brian had that lazy smile again. But it wasn’t just his regular smile, something else was there. Something real. Something _cocky._ Against all better judgment, Damien found himself grinning a little too.

           Finally giving up on words, he lunged at the taller male, slamming him into the wall. The metal behind Brian vibrated, and for a split, glorious second, he actually looked surprised. For a moment, he admired Brian from up close. His jaw was much sharper than he thought, and his lips were chapped. He smelled like moth balls and ash from the fire in the cafeteria, mixed with some subtle cologne that he definitely wasn’t wearing this morning.

           The idea of Brian putting on cologne for his meeting with Damien almost made him scream, but he settled for a wicked grin instead.

           “You think you’re so fucking smart,” he snarled.

           Brian huffed out another laugh. “You said it, not me,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, stupid hands still in those stupid pockets as he was pinned against the wall.

           The demon’s eyes found those lips again, and before he could allow his dumb thoughts to fuck him over, he dove in for a kiss.

           It was rough and all at once, but Brian returned it immediately. One of Damien’s hands on the zombie’s jacket loosened in favour of grabbing the back of his neck. Finally, _finally,_ Brian took his hands from his pockets, grabbing Damien’s waist and pulling him closer.

           Tongue and teeth were all Damien felt for a while before shifting angle to better explore his mouth. He kissed the life out of him (or lack thereof), lapping into his mouth and biting down on his lip. Damien moved his hand from Brian’s neck to hook his thumb into the gap in his jaw, using the leverage to move his head to whatever angle he pleased.

           And holy hell, was he pleased. Having this much control again was relieving, and so, so damn _hot._

           Brian moved his hands to Damien’s ass, cupping hard and pulling him up to rub his groin roughly on Brian’s thigh. The demon broke away for a moment to growl, biting his lip again with intention to break skin. And he did. Drops of blood trickled from Brian’s lower lip now, smeared everywhere between he and Damien’s mouths. That did nothing to deter him though, continuing to grind his thigh into the shorter male’s groin, all while tasting blood and Damien’s thumb in his mouth.

           After what was probably the most intense make out session Damien had experienced in under thirty seconds, he pulled away to steal some air. They were both dazed, and aroused, and had blood stained lips.

           “I guess this mean’s we’re cool now?” Brian offered, a little breathless. Damien swallowed roughly, nodding once before pushing himself off the other. He rubbed the blood off his face with his sleeve, watching a flushed Brian lazily smooth out his hair.

           The monster’s eyes trailed down, and he smiled widely at the salute he received. Damien followed his gaze to see his half-woody pressing against his black jeans, and the demon hardly did anything to conceal it. He looked up at Brian with a competitive grin.

           “Don’t flatter yourself,” he barked.

           But rather than responding, Brian walked up to him, grabbing the side of his face and planting on him a smaller, tender kiss. Ironically, the peck was the most flustering kiss they’d shared, considering how surprisingly loving it was. Apparently Damien’s expression showed his shock because Brian took one look at him and chuckled. Damien growled again, but this time didn’t shove the other away. Brian put his hands back in his pockets and they stood in each others space like that for another moment.

           “So, we gonna’ work on that project?” Brian asked insincerely.

           “Nah,” Damien shook his head, beginning to walk backward. “Let’s go start another fire in the library.”

           Brian jogged to catch up to him, walking back to the school. “And maybe afterward we can hang?”

           Damien fought with every fibre in his being not to smile like the biggest idiot at that.

           “Sure,” he said.

           “Cool.”

           And it _was_ cool.

           Brian was actually kind of rad, Damien concluded.

**Author's Note:**

> and i return to life with something OTHER THAN KLANCE wowie


End file.
